1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to access to a primary storage in a computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
An operating system or OS installed in a computer generally manages a memory area on a primary storage. In response to a request for allocation of a portion of the memory area on the primary storage from each of programs executed in the computer, the OS allocates a region of a specific capacity corresponding to the request out of a free memory space in the memory area on the primary storage. On end of execution of the program that has made the request for allocation of the portion of the memory area, the OS deallocates the allocated region on the primary storage. Repeated allocation and deallocation causes the memory area on the primary storage to be divided into multiple small regions, which are to be allocated to the respective programs.
There is a known technique called ‘RAM disk’ that utilizes a portion of the memory area on the primary storage as a virtual external storage (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. H11-85607). In the case where the RAM disk is to be set on the primary storage, the division of the memory area on the primary storage into the multiple small regions as mentioned above causes multiple small divisions of the memory area on the primary storage to be allocated to the storage area of the RAM disk. The division of the memory area causes to lower the access speed when the user accesses the RAM disk.